Death Stranding Character Trailer and Box Art Revealed

, storytelling, and more.

Among the anecdotes shared was some new information on Refn’s character Heartman, first revealed in Death Stranding’s release date trailer which debuted during PlayStation’s pre-E3 2019 State of Play presentation.

According to Kojima, Heartman has a “unique” heart, which stops every 21 minutes. He is hooked up to an AED and occupies himself with music and film that can be consumed within that 21 minute window. When he dies, he spends three minutes on the other side, searching for his family, before being resurrected. Heartman dies 60 times a day.

During the panel, Kojima also discussed how he reached out to work with Refn because he was a fan of his movies, Valhalla Rising and Drive in particular, but also because he wanted to meet Mads Mikkelsen, who stars in Valhalla Rising and will also play a major role as the character of Cliff in Death Stranding.

According to Kojima, when he mentioned his interest in casting Mikkelsen in Death Stranding, Refn actually recommended Keanu Reeves for the role instead.

“That would’ve been a threesome,” Refn joked.

While Reeves is not playing a role in Death Stranding that we know of, he will play a role in Cyberpunk 2077, as revealed during the Xbox briefing at E3 2019.